


Persuasion

by meanoldauthor



Series: Mean Old Lady [1]
Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Angst, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-12
Updated: 2015-06-12
Packaged: 2018-04-04 02:45:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4122985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meanoldauthor/pseuds/meanoldauthor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's good reason some people don't talk about the past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Persuasion

“…Looks like you need another round of persuasion. I’ll let my friend have a word, then we’ll chat.” The lieutenant spun the metal door open, waving her cigarette at the observers as she did. “He’s all yours. Don’t kill him too badly.”

Adal glanced over at Boone, staring at the centurion. He had that flat expression on, but she got the feeling the glass between them would melt with the hate in it. He didn’t notice when she stepped away, into the room with the prisoner.

She grinned at him, wiping blood off her knuckles. “Sickening,” he sneered, but slid back in his chair. “The NCR is so weak, it resorts to using women to—”

One across the face, through blood trailing from his eyebrow. “You know what I want. Talk or I keep going.”

Silus caught his balance on the wall, not taking his eyes off her. “What do you hope to achieve? You learn of one spy in the network, and you are so proud of this little achievement, you rush to the next battle. Lanius will be there, worm.”

She was disappointed with how little he fought back. She hadn’t crippled him, not yet, and swung harder to see if he would finally give in. Thrown from the chair, he struggled to stand against the wall, and she waited. “You realize the more you stall, the more I get to hurt you?” The cramped room was warm and stuffy, and she couldn’t tell if it was blood or sweat going down her temple. “Not that I mind.”

“He…he doesn’t care much for profligates like you,” Silus grunted. “He knows of you, courier, as all the Legion does.” He blocked the next punch, and she was surprised to feel one connect with her head. “Most want you dead. Some want you alive.”

She got a grip on his armor, baring her teeth as she drew her other fist back. Before she could lay into him further, the door clanked. “Enough for now. Changed your mind, Silus?”

Adal stepped out again, arms folded as she watched. “Like you, Boyd,” he said. “Can you appreciate the irony? The woman who held me prisoner, forever under a Legion hand…”

Boyd took a draw on her cigarette. “Nah. I’m more interested in slapstick. This is the best show I’ve seen in months.”

“The damage our spy has already done—”

“The damage my friend has already done is looking pretty good,” she said. “She clearly hasn’t gotten through to you yet.”

Adal didn’t wait for him to speak. He was trying to defend himself now, a desperate look in his eyes. “The Legate has a hatred for women above their station.” She threw an arm up to guard her face, taking a shot at his gut. He crumpled a moment. “They say he desires to meet you,” he gasped.

“Nice. He has a death wish.” He tried to trip her up, but was too weary. She kicked out at his knee, and he collapsed with a cry.

“Hardly, worm,” he said. The blood was flowing freely onto his breastplate, matching the red of the cloth beneath. She shook her head, chasing away a flash of memory. “I watched him once, bringing a nest of tribals to heel. We taught them fear, with their hovels burned and beasts slaughtered”

She could nearly smell the smoke and scent of offal on the wind. “We crucified their warriors, rounded the rest up in the center of their camp.” He was trying to stand. She let him get partway up before stomping him down. He sprawled on the floor and paused to spit blood. “We broke their legs first. Have you ever heard how they scream?”

She glanced at the window. Boyd gave her a grin and thumbs up. Boone kept glowering. Adal wiped sweat off of her brow, the room feeling close.

Silus had struggled to all fours. His voice was thin now, inaudible to those outside. “One of the women refused her place. He threw her down there to—”

She grabbed him by the back of his armor, pulling him up. “—To show her her role. We made the other captures watch as he held her down and—ugh!” He was winded from her kick, but sucked air, trying to finish. “She begged. She begged him to stop, but the bitch—”

There wasn’t enough air in the room. She stood over him as he tried to rise again. Boyd was gesturing behind the glass, moving for the door.

“—Lanius will make you scream, whore, drag you to the middle of the Dam so your city can watch.”

There was a ringing sound. A sense of heat, a dozen bullet wounds in her body. Fires are crackling behind her, children are crying, and the strangers jeer and laugh. Hands on her, a weight—

_I’ll kill you I’ll kill you I will tear out your throat with my teeth_ until the hands close on her neck and they will not help as he makes her bleed they watch and she feels them stare _cowards_ she tried to die for them—

Somewhere there is screaming. She tastes blood.

“Get her off him! Get her off him! For fuck’s sake, _don’t let her kill him!”_

She bucked as the hands pulled her arms back, wrapping around her chest to lift her feet off the ground. She couldn’t find leverage to swing, but her nails found skin, her teeth sank into flesh as she thrashed. More piled on, pried her jaws open, but all they did was hold. There was no pain, no intrusions, and a voice at her back, one she knew, saying her name. She had to drag herself up out of the black, following it, but the stars slowly went away from her vision. Before her, she saw a body laid out limp, hanks of hair and scalp laying on the ground and a bloody splatter under its head. Silus groaned and rolled away from Boyd, who nudged him with a toe. “Well?”

He was talking weakly as the MPs dragged her out. They waited for the door to close before letting her go, one by one. Whoever had her around the chest let go last, pinned by the rest of them. She waved them away, running a hand through her hair. It shook, and she folded her arms to hide it.

She looked over her shoulder at Boone, ready to grab her again. He was staring at her now, unreadable. She nodded at the glass. “What? You wanted a turn?”

“Yes,” he said, then, “…no. That one was yours.” He narrowed his eyes slightly. “You…recognize him? You weren’t there a moment.”

She looked away, shook her head. “No. No, not him. Reminded me of someone.”

He said nothing more, but she could feel him watching her as Boyd closed the door behind her, a smug look on her face. “Nice job. Sang like a bird if it kept you out of the room. Would have liked him a little more intact, but,” she waved her cigarette, nonchalant. “You can’t have everything. You alright, ma’am? I let him land a few, since you looked like you were just hitting your stride.”

She looked into the cell. A medic was leaning over the Legionary. “Fine. He wasn’t trying.”

“Hell of a mess in there, pity we don’t have two more.” Boyd took a long draw of her smoke. “We could charge admittance.”

\--

She rolled the Legionary over with her foot, dragging a satchel out from under him. “You good for ammo?”

“For now,” Boone said. She nodded to him, and pocketed the rounds for herself. She gestured for the two of them to move on, leaving the destroyed hit squad behind. The sun was going down, and she watched the mountains to the west catch the orange light. All was well. All was right. She didn’t hurt, she’d cleaned off the blood, was out in good air. She was fine.

_Lanius will make you scream…_

Fine. Just fine.

“Hey.”

“What?”

“Why do you hate them so much?”

Adal turned back to look at him. Boone had that stone face on again. “What? Hate the Legion?” She waved a hand. “Pick a reason. There’s a long list.”

“Fair,” he said. He fell quiet, but that itch between her shoulders let her know he was staring at her, not done. “But it’s more than that. Personal.”

“Does it matter?” She paused to check her Pip-boy, turning a few degrees north to correct their course.

“Well, you asked me a lot of prying goddamn questions,” he said. “My turn.”

She rubbed at her neck, feeling herself start to tense. “Yeah, well.” A motion on a hill turned out to be a coyote, watching them warily. “Old blood by now.”

“Not old enough.” He had drawn level with her, and she watched him out of the corner of her eye. He kept looking ahead. “I saw that, at McCarran. You _weren’t there._ I’ve seen that look, on rangers, troopers. Men and women carrying scars around in their heads instead of their skin.”

“We all got that,” she said. “Some people say they haven’t, and I call them liars.”

“No. Normal people haven’t.” He sighed. “Maybe you don’t…don’t need to carry it. Not anymore. Look, it…Going back to Bitter Springs helped me get some things worked out, okay? And thanks for it.” He looked at her, and she didn’t meet it. “Where’s your Bitter Springs?”

“It’s dead and buried, Boone. Drop it.” She shook her head. “You’re a better man’n you give yourself credit for, and I know you’re trying to help…but this doesn’t need to see the light of day.”

“Think that’ll help you in this fight that’s coming?”

She stopped dead, and turned to face him. “The fuck do you mean?”

“I could hear him. The last of it,” he said. He looked uncomfortable, a hand coming up to adjust the set of his beret. “What he was saying when you snapped. You met this Legate?”

“No. He’s some upstart kid, by my frame of things,” she said. “Legion’ve been tearing people up long before he came by.”

“That going to make it any easier to face him?” Boone said. “You’re going to be able to take him down?”

It was getting cold with the sun setting. She crossed her arms tightly. “You know goddamn well I am. What gives you the right to ask?”

“I get the right because I’ve pulled your ass out of the fire a dozen times,” he said, not loud, but intense. She’d met men who shouted, who raged. Boone gave her more pause than any of them. “Because this is all riding on you. All Vegas, the Mojave, every human being close to this Dam. If you can’t do this, a hell of a lot of people are going to burn.”

“Maybe I’d do it better if you didn’t keep reminding me,” she spat. “Fuck’s sake, I go years without losing it, and now you keep picking the wound. You wanna know what position it was? If I came? How many people were watching?”

He drew back a little, looked away. She turned to the north again, imagining Silus’ face under each footfall. She ground her heel in the dirt. Seeing Legion around, being thrown against them had dredged up enough, made her bitter, made her twitchy. Letting that little yellow streak get under her skin was careless. Shoot on sight. That’s all there was to it. Don’t let them get close. They were too dangerous, in too many ways. Never, ever let anyone close.

People got close, they just got hurt.

…Maybe even if they didn’t deserve it.

Adal rubbed at her forehead, grinding her teeth. The words stuck in her throat at first, and she had to try again. “I’m sorry,” she said, not turning all the way. “S’outta line.”

A pause. She slowed as he caught up. “Me, too,” he said. “Not my place.”

The stars were coming out. She watched them come to life, blurred and distant, the sky shading through blue to black. “It just all gets dug up sometimes, right?” She kept her head tipped up, not letting the tears run. “Gets its teeth in your brain. It’s always on your breath, but won’t come out. Starts wearing on you.”

He said nothing, but she could see him not-quite watching her. She wiped her eyes, coming back down to watch the horizon. Getting weepy in the middle of the desert was a good way to get dead.

“…it didn’t have a name,” she said. “Just a camp at an old crossroads, way northeast of here. We’d seen them marching. Passed through towns that had been claimed. They were… frightened. Broken. Saw people up on crosses. We said fuck that, started shooting at their patrols when we had a chance.”

“Were you with a caravan?” he asked.

“Tribal. We roamed, after game and trade. Legion thought we were a nuisance and didn’t like that they couldn’t pin us down. So they tracked us.” She took a breath. The cold air was the same, dry like in the hills. “Was hunting and came across their trail. Ran my feet bloody back to camp.” She swallowed hard. “You can guess the rest.”

He let her walk ahead again. She opened her eyes to watch her footing. She thought he had let it rest, and some of the tension in her shoulders let go. Then, “I’m sorry.”

For what happened? For prying? She shrugged. “I pestered you enough.”

“Yeah.” He crunched along behind her a moment, then chuckled. “That look on Caesar’s face.”

“Fall asleep thinking of it, some nights,” she said. “Almost worth the pain of getting there.”

“Almost,” he said. She imagined him looking up at the stars. “Almost.”


End file.
